Once upon a time a game covering the entire war in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay would have involved finding proper play space, punching out counters (which could lead to such dangers as paper cuts and lost ships in the shag rug), reading rules, and finding an opponent. An opponent who would hopefully not spill their drink all over your super sweet shag rug, but invariably would, and then you'd have to go out and spend money on a steam cleaner, but the steam cleaner wouldn't clean it and so you'd have to hire a professional service and-well, you get the idea.

That was then. This is now.

In the now we can play such a game on our fancy computer boxes and protect our precious shag rugs. KE Studios' War Plan Pacific, published by Shrapnel Games, not only allows one or two players to play out the entire Pacific campaign on the PC, but it allows them to do it all in a single session. That's right, in less time than it takes to punch out a countersheet for Victory in the Pacific you can play an entire game of War Plan Pacific.

We think that's pretty cool and so do a lot of other folks. From fans of the game to the professional critics, War Plan Pacific really hits the sweet spot of modern wargaming for many. James Allen of Out of Eight awarded War Plan Pacific a seven (that's out of eight, natch) saying, "War Plan Pacific is a grand strategy game truly designed with the more casual user in mind. A lot of the tedium and frankly unnecessary complexity found in similar games is removed while still keeping a satisfying level of depth. War Plan Pacific is easy to manage, with great unit organization and simple mission assignment. The multiple victory conditions are fantastic and reduce the amount of repetition seen in subsequent matches." Troy S. Goodfellow at Gameshark raved that "it is a quick playing and transparent game with an elegance that puts a lot of larger budget games to shame."

And now the French strategy site Cyberstratège, possibly the best gaming website for strategy and wargaming available with its extensive AARs, interviews, previews, and reviews, has nominated War Plan Pacific in its annual "best strategy" game awards. Even better, there is a public option allowing fans to vote! Guess what we'd like to see you guys and gals do?

You can vote at the following link (they want three choices, unfortunately you cannot vote three times for War Plan Pacific...

So come on, get your vote on and let KE Studios know that you think their first game is truly an awesome piece of work!

War Plan Pacific, developed by start up KE Studios and published by Shrapnel Games, is available for Windows for only $39.95 (physical product or download). War Plan Pacific is a game of grand strategy featuring individual capital ships, air groups, and abstracted land combat that allows one or two players to fight for control of the Pacific in a single session. Multiplayer is handled either online or through PBEM. Individual scenarios can be tweaked using a standard XML editor, and with multiple victory conditions in the basic game there are many paths to victory.

To learn more about this acclaimed wargame and to download the demo please visit its official product page:

If you're already a fan of the game and looking for some PBEM action be sure to head on over to the official War Plan Pacific forum and advertise for opponents. You haven't experienced War Plan Pacific fully until you've played it PBEM. Don't be shy, get a game going by posting here:

For more great strategy games please visit us at www.shrapnelgames.com You'll find a rich catalog of award-winning strategy titles that span a number of genres and subjects, from the unique to the common. Additionally, we have a selection of free games for your enjoyment, and demos for all our products so you can try before you buy.